Climate & Environment
Transdisciplinarity
Definition
Transdisciplinarity is a research approach that integrates knowledge across academic disciplines and, distinctively, from outside academia — practitioners, communities, Indigenous knowledge holders — co-defining problems and co-producing solutions. Where multidisciplinarity juxtaposes disciplines and interdisciplinarity blends them, transdisciplinarity starts from the problem itself (a watershed, a transition, a community) and assembles whatever knowledge it needs.
References
This reference provides supporting context for how “Transdisciplinarity” is defined and used.
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Overview
How it is used
The approach structures sustainability science programmes, Future Earth research, policy-oriented assessments, and community-university partnerships.
Why it matters
The problems do not respect departmental boundaries; transdisciplinarity is research reorganised to match the world it studies.